Rendering Information into Images

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and computer readable media to improve the operation of a display system are disclosed. Techniques disclosed herein selectively darken a region of an image so that when text or other information is rendered into that region, the contrast between the text or other information and the underlying image in that area is sufficient to ensure the text or other information is visible and readable. In one embodiment, a region into which information is to be rendered may be combined or blended with tone mapped values of those same pixels in accordance with a given function, where the function gives more weight to the tone mapped pixel values the closer those pixels are to the midline of the region and more weight to untone-mapped image pixel values the further those pixels are from the midline of the region.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates generally to the field of video processing andmore particularly but not by way of limitation, to a system and methodfor rendering subtitles and other information into a high dynamic range(HDR) image or video sequence.

Images comprise one or more color components (e.g., luma Y and chroma Cband Cr) and have a dynamic range. Dynamic range relates to thecapability to represent a range of intensity or luminance values in animage, e.g., from darkest-darks (blacks) to brightest-brights (whites).Dynamic range also relates to the ability of a display device toadequately or approximately render an intensity range of a particularbreadth. A typical cathode-ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD),or plasma screen may be constrained in its dynamic range renderingcapability which is inadequate to reproduce the full range of luminancevalues present in natural scenes. Luminance values in natural scenestypically range from 1 billion candela-per-square-meter (cd/m²) for thesun, to 10000 cd/m² for lamps, and thousands of cd/m² for objects insunlight (like a building or cloud rims). In contrast, a typical displayscreen can have a displayable luminance range from 0-500 cd/m². A videotaken of outdoor scenes may have true world brightness values in thethousands of cd/m². When such scenes are rendered, the luminance rangeof the scene is mapped to the luminance range of the display. This ismost often performed using a tone mapping function that maps an image'snative luminance values to the luminance range of a given display sothat scene elements—when rendered to the display—have approximatelysimilar appearance differences as they do in the originally capturedimage. In this way tone mapping functions can, for example, convert HDRimages to standard dynamic range (SDR) images for rendering on adisplay. Tone mapping addresses the problem of strong contrast reductionfrom the captured scene's radiance to the display's displayable rangewhile preserving an image's details and color appearance important toappreciate the original scene content.

In general, a user can determine whether to view subtitles in a videoimage by making a selection on the user's display device. Subtitles aretypically displayed as white text over an underlying region of theimage. The subtitle may be added by substantially darkening orblackening the underlying region of the image to provide contrast withthe white overlay text. One approach to create the underlying region isto greatly darken the luminance or intensity of the pixels forming theregion. In a SDR movie, the pixels of a scene have a normalizedluminance range from 0 to 1, where 0 represents black and 1 representswhite. The pixels constituting the underlying region are evenlycompressed or darkened by 50% relative to their original intensity. Thisdarkening provides a 50% contrast with the white overlay text that isadded. This approach may deliver a satisfactory result when applied toSDR images, but does not work well with HDR images. In an HDR image,selecting an arbitrary luminance value to create a darkened underlyingregion can result in a region having the same luminance as the whiteoverlay text. Unlike SDR images or videos, pixel luminance values in HDRimages or video can have a (normalized) range from 0 to 2. In an HDRvideo, an image's scene can be as bright as the underlying textual plateor it can be brighter than the overlay text. For example, a scene thatincludes a white field can have a luminance of 2 and may be part of theunderlying region. By dimming the underlying region by 50%, thebrightness of the textual plate can be about the same brightness as thewhite overlay text (e.g., 1). As a consequence, the overlay text may notbe visible. While the luminance of the text may be increased to providecontrast with the underlying plate, doing so may cause the text to bedisplayed as “eye-poppingly” bright, which is not a normal (or “userfriendly”) way to display a subtitle.

SUMMARY

The following summary is included in order to provide a basicunderstanding of some aspects and features of the claimed subjectmatter. This summary is not an extensive overview and as such it is notintended to particularly identify key or critical elements of theclaimed subject matter or to delineate the scope of the claimed subjectmatter. The sole purpose of this summary is to present some concepts ofthe claimed subject matter in a simplified form as a prelude to the moredetailed description that is presented below.

In one embodiment the disclosed concepts provide a method to displayinformation in a designated region of an image (e.g., a high dynamicrange, or HDR, image). The method includes obtaining an image havingpixels, where each pixel has a value (e.g., one image from a videosequence of HDR images); identifying a region in the image, the regionhaving a centerline and outer edges; Identifying a function that variesfrom an initial value at the region's centerline to a final value at anouter edge of the region (e.g., a smoothly linear or non-linearfunction); determining the pixel's image value (e.g., the value of thepixel in the image before operations in accordance with this method);determining a location of the pixel within the region (e.g., along theregion's centerline, along an outer edge, or somewhere in-between);determining a first value for the pixel based on the function and thepixel's location; determining a tone map value for the pixel based on atone map function and the pixel's image value; determining a regionvalue for the pixel based on the pixel's image value, the pixel's tonemap value and the pixel's first value (e.g., a weighted average of thepixel's image value and the pixel's tone map value); updating each pixelof the image in the region with the pixel's region value; and rendering,after updating, information into the region. In one or more otherembodiments, the various methods described herein may be embodied incomputer executable program code and stored in a non-transitory storagedevice. In yet other embodiments, the method may be implemented in anelectronic device having image display capabilities.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows, in block diagram form, a simplified functional blockdiagram of an illustrative electronic device in accordance with one ormore embodiments.

FIG. 2 shows, in flowchart form, an information overlay operation inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 3A illustrates various display regions within an image inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

FIGS. 3B and 3C illustrate a gradient function in accordance with one ormore embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates different tone mapping functions in accordance withone or more embodiments.

FIG. 5 shows, in block diagram form, a blend operation in accordancewith one or more embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates information displayed in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 7 shows, in block diagram form, a computer system in accordancewith one or more embodiments.

FIG. 8 shows, in block diagram form, a computer network in accordancewith one or more embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure pertains to systems, methods, and computer readablemedia to improve the operation of a display system. In general,techniques are disclosed for rendering text and other information intoimages of a video sequence. More particularly, techniques disclosedherein selectively darken a region of an image so that when text orother information is rendered into that region, the contrast between thetext or other information and the underlying image in that area issufficient to ensure the text or other information is visible andreadable. In one embodiment, a region into which information is to berendered may be combined or blended with tone mapped values of thosesame pixels in accordance with a given function, where the functiongives more weight to the tone mapped pixel values the closer thosepixels are to the midline of the region and, conversely, more weight tountone-mapped image pixel values the further those pixels are from themidline of the region.

The techniques disclosed herein are applicable to any number ofelectronic devices with displays such as digital cameras, digital videocameras, mobile phones, personal data assistants (PDAs), portableentertainment players, and, of course, desktop, laptop, and tabletcomputer systems. In the following description, for purposes ofexplanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the disclosed concepts. As part of thisdescription, some of this disclosure's drawings represent structures anddevices in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the novelaspects of the disclosed concepts. In the interest of clarity, not allfeatures of an actual implementation may be described. Further, as partof this description, some of this disclosure's drawings may be providedin the form of flowcharts. The boxes in any particular flowchart may bepresented in a particular order. It should be understood however thatthe particular sequence of any given flowchart is used only to exemplifyone embodiment. In other embodiments, any of the various elementsdepicted in the flowchart may be deleted, or the illustrated sequence ofoperations may be performed in a different order, or even concurrently.In addition, other embodiments may include additional steps not depictedas part of the flowchart. Moreover, the language used in this disclosurehas been principally selected for readability and instructionalpurposes, and may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribethe inventive subject matter, resort to the claims being necessary todetermine such inventive subject matter. Reference in this disclosure to“one embodiment” or to “an embodiment” means that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentis included in at least one embodiment of the disclosed subject matter,and multiple references to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” shouldnot be understood as necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

Embodiments of the information display system set forth herein canassist with improving the functionality of computing devices or systemsthat display images or image sequences (e.g., video). Computerfunctionality can be improved by enabling such computing devices orsystems to display information in substantially any area of an imagewhile ensuring contrast between the information and the underlying imageis such that the information remains visible. Using display techniquesin accordance with this disclosure can improve the “watchability” ofwide gamut images displayed on wide gamut devices by ensuring that thedisplayed information remains visible and readable even when rendered inan especially bright region of the image.

It will be appreciated that in the development of any actualimplementation (as in any software and/or hardware development project),numerous decisions must be made to achieve a developers' specific goals(e.g., compliance with system- and business-related constraints), andthat these goals may vary from one implementation to another. It willalso be appreciated that such development efforts might be complex andtime-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking forthose of ordinary skill in the design and implementation of graphicsprocessing and display systems having the benefit of this disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1, a simplified functional block diagram ofillustrative electronic device 100 capable of rendering text and otherinformation onto an image or video sequence is shown according to one ormore embodiments. Electronic device 100 could be, for example, a mobiletelephone, personal media device, a notebook computer system, a tabletcomputer system, or a desktop computer system. As shown, electronicdevice 100 may include lens assembly 105 and image sensor 110 forcapturing images of a scene such as an HDR video. In addition,electronic device 100 may include image processing pipeline (IPP) 115,display element 120, user interface 125, processor(s) 130, graphicshardware 135, audio circuit 140, image processing circuit 145, memory150, storage 155, sensors 160, communication interface 165, andcommunication network or fabric 170.

Lens assembly 105 may include a single lens or multiple lens, filters,and a physical housing unit (e.g., a barrel). One function of lensassembly 105 is to focus light from a scene onto image sensor 110. Imagesensor 110 may, for example, be a CCD (charge-coupled device) or CMOS(complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) imager. Device 100 may includemore than one lens assembly and more than one image sensor. Each lensassembly may focus light onto a single image sensor (at the same ordifferent times) or different portions of a single image sensor. IPP 115may process image sensor output (e.g., RAW image data from sensor 110)to yield a HDR image, image sequence or video sequence. Morespecifically, IPP 115 may perform a number of different tasks including,but not be limited to, black level removal, de-noising, lens shadingcorrection, white balance adjustment, demosaic operations, and theapplication of local or global tone curves or maps. IPP 115 may comprisea custom designed integrated circuit, a programmable gate-array, acentral processing unit (CPU), a graphical processing unit (GPU), memoryor a combination of these elements (including more than one of any givenelement). Some functions provided by IPP 115 may be implemented at leastin part via software (including firmware). Display element 120 may be awide gamut display and may be used to display text and graphic output aswell as receiving user input via user interface 125. For example,display element 120 may be a touch-sensitive display screen. Userinterface 125 can also take a variety of other forms such as a button,keypad, dial, a click wheel, and keyboard. Processor 130 may be asystem-on-chip (SOC) such as those found in mobile devices and includeone or more dedicated CPUs and one or more GPUs. Processor 130 may bebased on reduced instruction-set computer (RISC) or complexinstruction-set computer (CISC) architectures or any other suitablearchitecture and each computing unit may include one or more processingcores. Graphics hardware 135 may be special purpose computationalhardware for processing graphics and/or assisting processor 130 performcomputational tasks. In one embodiment, graphics hardware 135 mayinclude one or more programmable GPUs each of which may have one or morecores. Audio circuit 140 may include one or more microphones, one ormore speakers and one or more audio codecs. Image processing circuit 145may aid in the capture of still and video images from image sensor 110and include at least one video codec. Image processing circuit 145 maywork in concert with IPP 115, processor 130 and/or graphics hardware135. Images, once captured, may be stored in memory 150 and/or storage155. Memory 150 may include one or more different types of media used byIPP 115, processor 130, graphics hardware 135, audio circuit 140, andimage processing circuitry 145 to perform device functions. For example,memory 150 may include memory cache, read-only memory (ROM), and/orrandom access memory (RAM). Storage 155 may store media (e.g., audio,image and video files), computer program instructions or software,preference information, device profile information, and any othersuitable data. Storage 155 may include one more non-transitory storagemediums including, for example, magnetic disks (fixed, floppy, andremovable) and tape, optical media such as CD-ROMs and digital videodisks (DVDs), and semiconductor memory devices such as ElectricallyProgrammable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), and Electrically ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM). Device sensors 160 may include,but need not be limited to, an optical activity sensor, an opticalsensor array, an accelerometer, a sound sensor, a barometric sensor, aproximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, a vibration sensor, agyroscopic sensor, a compass, a barometer, a magnetometer, a thermistorsensor, an electrostatic sensor, a temperature sensor, a heat sensor, athermometer, a light sensor, a differential light sensor, an opacitysensor, a scattering light sensor, a diffractional sensor, a refractionsensor, a reflection sensor, a polarization sensor, a phase sensor, aflorescence sensor, a phosphorescence sensor, a pixel array, a micropixel array, a rotation sensor, a velocity sensor, an inclinometer, apyranometer and a momentum sensor. Communication interface 165 may beused to connect device 100 to one or more networks. Illustrativenetworks include, but are not limited to, a local network such as auniversal serial bus (USB) network, an organization's local areanetwork, and a wide area network such as the Internet. Communicationinterface 165 may use any suitable technology (e.g., wired or wireless)and protocol (e.g., Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), InternetProtocol (IP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Internet Control MessageProtocol (ICMP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Post OfficeProtocol (POP), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and Internet MessageAccess Protocol (IMAP)). Communication network or fabric 170 may becomprised of one or more continuous (as shown) or discontinuouscommunication links and be formed as a bus network, a communicationnetwork, or a fabric comprised of one or more switching devices (e.g., across-bar switch). In general, one or more of processor 130, graphicshardware 135 and image processing circuit 135 may be configured torender selected information (textual or graphic) in a designated orspecified region within an image or frame.

Referring to FIG. 2, information overlay operation 200 in accordancewith one or more embodiments may begin when electronic device 100obtains input video or image sequence 205 (block 210). For example,input video 205 may be captured by lens assembly 105 and image sensor110 (collectively a “camera”). Alternatively, input video 205 may bereceived by electronic device 100 from an external system over a networkvia communication interface 165. Input video 205 may include HDR imagesin YCbCr format or RGB pixel data from which corresponding YCbCr pixelvalues may be determined. Once acquired, images or frames from videoinput 205 may be analyzed to determine a location for rendering thetarget overlay information (block 215).

Referring to FIG. 3A, and by way of example, pixel coordinates for imageframe 300 extracted from video input 205 may be retrieved and used todetermine a location for underlying display region 305 within which thetarget overlay information may be inserted (e.g., onto overlay plane310). Target overlay information may be text (e.g., subtitles), graphicsor a combination of both and, while shown centered near the image'sbottom, may be placed in any desired location or locations (e.g., theupper-right corner or along the left side). Underlying display region305 may be a single rectangular region or multiple polygonal regionsthat are arranged to form region 305. The precise location and extent orsize of display region 305 and, similarly, the extent or size of overlayplane 310 is a matter of design choice and may be subject to a number ofconstraints that would be known to one of ordinary skill in the art.

Returning to FIG. 2, a pixel in the image may then be selected (block220). The selected pixel's location may be obtained and used todetermine whether the pixel is within an area defined by display region305. If the selected pixel's coordinate location is not inside displayregion 305 (the “NO” prong of block 225), the pixel's luminance valuemay be adjusted in accordance with a first tone mapping function (block230) and, thereafter, the current image may be updated with the selectedpixel's new value (block 235). In one embodiment, the first tone map maybe selected to display the image properly on the target display element(e.g., an HD or other wide gamut display). The first tone map used inaccordance with block 230 is a matter of design choice and may be anyfunction deemed beneficial for the specific implementation. If pixelsremain to be evaluated (the “YES” prong of block 240), a next—as yetunevaluated pixel—may be selected (block 245) where after informationoverlay operation 200 continues at block 225. If the selected pixel'scoordinate location is within display region 305 (the “YES” prong ofblock 225), the selected pixel's gradient may be determined based on thepixel's location within the display region (block 250). In one or moreembodiments, the gradient may be chosen to select how much of theunderlying scene (i.e., within display region 305) is permitted to showthrough and interact with the “to be presented” information.

Referring to FIG. 3B, by way of example and not limitation, in oneembodiment the gradient function may be chosen so that the underlyingpixel's value from region 305 is not affected at the outer edges ofregion 305 (e.g., along edges 315 and 320) and maximally affected atregion 305's centerline 325; where the overlay information is destinedto be placed. In one particular embodiment, the gradient function maychange linearly 330. In another embodiment, the gradient function maychange smoothly but non-linearly as shown by curves 335 and 340.Referring to FIG. 3C, display region 305 has been shaded in accordancewith function 335 to show pictorially how the gradient function may bemade to change from one outer edge 315 to the other outer edge 320. Instill another embodiment, the gradient function used from one outer edgeof region 305 (e.g., outer edge 315) to centerline 325 may be differentfrom the gradient function used from the other outer edge (e.g., outeredge 320) to centerline 325.

Returning again to FIG. 2, once the selected pixel's gradient value hasbeen determined the selected pixel may be tone mapped (block 255). Atone map in accordance with block 255 may be selected so as to providean output that is clamped or limited to a value less than one. Referringto FIG. 4, in one embodiment modified tone map 400 may be used tosoft-clamp its input to 0.6 (with respect to a normalized output rangeof 0 to 1). In other embodiments modified tone maps in accordance withthis disclosure may be used to soft-clamp their input to any specifiedvalue less than one (with respect to a normalized output range of 0 to1). “Standard” tone mapping functions (e.g., Reinhard function 405) aredefined so as to asymptotically approach a maximum value of 1. Whenattempting to limit these functions to values less than one, they canbehave oddly as shown by function 410; a result that does support aninformation overlay operation as disclosed herein.

Returning yet again to FIG. 2, the selected pixel's gradient and tonemapped values may be combined to yield a value (block 260) with which toupdate the currently selected image (block 235). If there are no morepixels in the selected image to process (the “NO” prong of block 240),the information to be displayed in the selected image may be insertedinto overlay plane 310 of the updated image (block 265).

Referring to FIG. 5, operation 260 in accordance with one or moreembodiments may combine or blend (in accordance with block 500) theselected pixel's value 505 (e.g., see block 220) and the selectedpixel's tone map value 510 (e.g., see block 255) in accordance with theselected pixel's corresponding gradient value 515 (e.g., see block 250and FIG. 3B). As discussed above with respect to the implementationillustrated in FIG. 3, when the selected pixel is at the outer edge ofdisplay region 305 (e.g., along edge 315 or 320), the selected pixel'sgradient is zero (see FIG. 3B). The product (provided by element 520) ofthe selected pixel's tone mapped value 510 and this gradient value istherefore zero; meaning combine or blend operation 500 sends theselected pixel's value 505 to block 235. Alternatively, when theselected pixel is along centerline 325 of display region 305, theselected pixel's gradient is one (see FIG. 3B). The resulting product isthen the selected pixel's tone mapped value 510; meaning blend operation500 sends the blended value of the selected pixel's initial value 505and its corresponding tone mapped value 510 to block 235.

Referring now to FIG. 6, once the selected image has been processed inaccordance with operation 200 the image is ready to have target overlayinformation 600 rendered into overlay plane 310 within display region305. Because the display region has been selectively darkened inaccordance with FIG. 2, the contrast needed to render target information600 is assured; even when the image is very bright in the area where thetarget information is to be displayed (i.e., region 305). In oneembodiment, target information 600 may comprise subtitle information. Inanother embodiment, target information 600 may include graphics orsymbols distinct from those used as subtitles.

Referring to FIG. 7, the information display operations in accordancewith this disclosure may be performed by representative computer system700 (e.g., a general purpose computer system such as a desktop orworkstation computer system). Computer system 700 can be housed insingle computing device or spatially distributed between two or moredifferent locations. Computer system 700 may include processor 705,graphics hardware 710, audio circuits 715, image processing circuit 720,memory 725, storage 730, device sensors 735, communication interface740, user interface adapter 745, and display adapter 750—all of whichmay be coupled via system bus, backplane or switching fabric 755.Processor 705, graphics hardware 710, audio circuit 715, imageprocessing circuit 720, memory 725, storage 730, device sensors 735,communication interface 740, system bus or fabric 755, and display 785may be of the same or similar type and serve the same function as thesimilarly named component described below with respect to FIG. 8. Userinterface adapter 745 may provide a means of coupling external devicessuch as microphone 760, speaker 765, keyboard 770, mouse or otherpointing device 775, and image capture unit 780 to computer system 700.Display adapter 750 may be used to connect one or more display units(e.g., wide gamut display unit 785) which may also provide touch inputcapability.

Referring to FIG. 8, illustrative network architecture 800 within whichan information display system in accordance with the disclosedtechniques may be implemented includes a plurality of networks 805,(i.e., 805A, 805B and 805C), each of which may take any form including,but not limited to, a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network(WAN) such as the Internet. Further, networks 805 may use any desiredtechnology (wired, wireless or a combination thereof) and communicationprotocol (e.g., TCP, or transmission control protocol and PPP, or pointto point). Coupled to networks 805 are data server computer systems 810(i.e., 810A and 810B) that are capable of communicating over networks805. Also coupled to networks 805, and/or data server computer systems810, are client or end-user computer systems 815 (i.e., 815A, 815B and815C). Each of these elements or components may be a computer system asdescribed above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 7. In some embodiments,network architecture 800 may also include network printers such asprinter 820 and network storage systems such as 825. To facilitatecommunication between different network devices (e.g., server computersystems 810, client computer systems 815, network printer 820 andstorage system 825), at least one gateway or router 830 may beoptionally coupled there between.

It is to be understood that the above description is intended to beillustrative, and not restrictive. The material has been presented toenable any person skilled in the art to make and use the disclosedsubject matter as claimed and is provided in the context of particularembodiments, variations of which will be readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art (e.g., some of the disclosed embodiments may be usedin combination with each other). The scope of the invention thereforeshould be determined with reference to the appended claims, along withthe full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. In theappended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as theplain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and“wherein.”

1. A non-transitory program storage device comprising instructionsstored thereon to cause one or more processors to: identify an overlayregion to be displayed at a location corresponding to a first subset ofpixels from among a plurality of pixels of an image, wherein theplurality of pixels of the image have luminance values spanning aluminance range; reduce the luminance range for at least some of thefirst subset of pixels from among the plurality of pixels of the imageto a target luminance range; and cause display of the image with overlayinformation placed within the overlay region, wherein pixelscorresponding to the overlay information have at least one luminancevalue that exceeds the target luminance range.
 2. The non-transitoryprogram storage device of claim 1, wherein the first subset of pixelscomprises: a first set of pixels associated with an inner line of theoverlay region corresponding to the first subset of pixels, wherein thepixels corresponding to the overlay information overlay at least aportion of the inner line in the display of the image with the overlayinformation; and a second set of pixels associated with an outer edge ofthe overlay region corresponding to the first subset of pixels.
 3. Thenon-transitory program storage device of claim 2, further comprisinginstructions to cause the one or more processors to implement a pixelgradient between the outer edge and the inner line, wherein the pixelgradient causes luminance values of the first set of pixels to bereduced more than luminance values of the second set of pixels.
 4. Thenon-transitory program storage device of claim 2, wherein the inner lineis a centerline of the overlay region.
 5. The non-transitory programstorage device of claim 1, wherein the luminance range associated withthe plurality of pixels of the image corresponds to a luminance rangefor a high dynamic range image.
 6. The non-transitory program storagedevice of claim 1, wherein the overlay information displayed in theoverlay region of the image includes at least one of overlay textinformation, overlay graphics information, and overlay symbolinformation.
 7. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 6,wherein the overlay text information displayed in the overlay regionincludes subtitle information.
 8. The non-transitory program storagedevice of claim 1, further comprising instructions to cause the one ormore processors to: perform a first tone mapping for a second subset ofpixels from among the plurality of pixels of the image that do notcorrespond to the overlay region, wherein the first tone mapping mapscolors for the image to colors of a target display device; and perform asecond tone mapping to reduce the luminance range for the at least someof the first subset of pixels from among the plurality of pixels of theimage to the target luminance range, wherein the first tone mappingdiffers from the second tone mapping.
 9. A computer system comprising: amemory; and one or more processors coupled to the memory, wherein theone or more processors are configured to execute program instructionsstored in the memory to cause the one or more processors to: determinean overlay region corresponding to a first subset of pixels thatrepresent a portion of an image, wherein the image includes a pluralityof pixels that include the first subset of pixels and that haveluminance values spanning a luminance range; perform a first tonemapping to reduce the luminance range for at least some of the firstsubset of pixels from among the plurality of pixels of the image to atarget luminance range; and render within the overlay region, overlayinformation to be displayed on a display device, wherein pixelscorresponding to the overlay information have at least one luminancevalue that exceeds the target luminance range.
 10. The computer systemof claim 9, wherein the luminance range associated with the plurality ofpixels of the image corresponds to a normalized luminance range fromzero to two.
 11. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the overlayregion further comprises: a first set of pixels associated with an innerline of the first subset of pixels, wherein the pixels corresponding tothe overlay information overlay at least a portion of the first set ofpixels; and a second set of pixels associated with an outer edge of thefirst subset of pixels.
 12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein theprogram instructions further cause the one or more processors toimplement a pixel gradient operation between the outer edge and theinner line, wherein a pixel gradient value for the first set of pixelsis greater than a pixel gradient value for the second set of pixels. 13.The computer system of claim 12, wherein the program instructions thatcause the one or more processors to render within the overlay regionfurther comprise program instructions that cause the one or moreprocessors to render the first subset of pixels based on the first tonemapping and based on the pixel gradient operation.
 14. The computersystem of claim 9, wherein the program instructions further cause theone or more processors to perform a second tone mapping for a secondsubset of pixels that are from among the plurality of pixels of theimage and that do not correspond to the overlay region, wherein thesecond tone mapping maps colors for the image to colors of the displaydevice, and wherein the first tone mapping differs from the second tonemapping.
 15. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the at least oneluminance value of the pixels corresponding to the overlay informationcorresponds to a normalized luminance value of one.
 16. A computerimplemented method for adding overlay information to an image, themethod comprising: identifying an overlay region to be displayed at alocation corresponding to a first subset of pixels from among aplurality of pixels of an image, wherein the plurality of pixels of theimage have luminance values spanning a luminance range; reducing theluminance range for at least some of the first subset of pixels fromamong the plurality of pixels of the image to a target luminance range;and rendering within the overlay region, overlay information to bedisplayed on a display device, wherein pixels corresponding to theoverlay information have at least one luminance value that exceeds thetarget luminance range.
 17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:performing a first tone mapping for a second subset of pixels from amongthe plurality of pixels of the image that do not correspond to theoverlay region, wherein the first tone mapping maps colors for the imageto colors of the display device; and performing a second tone mapping toreduce the luminance range for the at least some of the first subset ofpixels from among the plurality of pixels of the image to the targetluminance range, wherein the first tone mapping differs from the secondtone mapping differ.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein the overlayregion further comprises: a first set of pixels associated with an innerline of the overlay region corresponding to the first subset of pixels,wherein the pixels corresponding to the overlay information overlay atleast a portion of the first set of pixels in the rendering of theoverlay information; and a second set of pixels associated with an outeredge of the overlay region corresponding to the first subset of pixels.19. The method of claim 18, further comprising implementing a gradientfunction between the outer edge and the inner line, wherein the gradientfunction causes luminance values of the first set of pixels to bereduced more than luminance values of the second set of pixels.
 20. Themethod of claim 16, wherein the overlay information displayed in theoverlay region of the image includes at least one of overlay textinformation, overlay graphics information, and overlay symbolinformation.